Courses

• CAS GE 521: Environmental Law and Policy
  Survey of the major features of environmental law and relevant procedural and consitutional issues. Comparison of practical realities (political, economic, social, geographic, biological) with the ideal context for what should be. Projects include legal research and mock advocay.
• CAS GE 522: Environmental Policy and Decision-Making
  In-depth look at environmental policy and decision-making: how society addresses environmental problems. Includes discussion of the environmental movement, law, science, technology, economics, and international relations. Examines new issues facing environmental professionals and approaches to creating a sustainable world.
• CAS GE 525: Plant Physiological Ecology
  In-depth treatment of eco-physiological responses of plants and communities to environmental factors and climate change, as well as plant and community level impacts on the environment as manifested primarily in hydrologic, energy, and carbon cycles.
• CAS GE 530: Forest Ecology
  The major biotic and abiotic factors influencing forest ecosystem composition, structure and function. Role of solar radiation, hydrology, soils, succession, and management of forest ecosystems. Includes New England case study. Three hours lecture plus discussion. Also meets with CAS BI 530.
• CAS GE 533: Risk Assessment
  Investigates the science behind regulation designed to protect people from environmental hazards, through a practical focus on chemical hazards. Students develop a working knowledge of the risk assessment process and perform simple risk assessments for chemicals in the environment.
• CAS GE 536: European Environmental Policy
  Focuses on key concepts, actors, and issues related to European integration, environmental policy making, and sustainable development. Also examines transatlantic environmental relations and the role of the European Union in global environmental governance. Also offered as CAS IR 536.
• CAS GE 540: Ecosystem Services
  Ecosystems provide a variety of valuable services that improve human well-being. Services include pollination, pest control, water purification, climate regulation, flood protection, nutrient cycling, recreation, and aesthetics. An interdisciplinary examination of ecosystem services from ecological, economic, and governance perspectives.
• CAS GE 550: Modeling Environmental and Social Systems
  Techniques of organizing energy, environmental, or social systems into mathematical computer models. Includes the theory underlying different modeling techniques, programming skills, and a hands-on research project in which students develop their own models.
• CAS GE 555: World Oil Markets
  The world oil market is explained using the notion of supply chain. Each stage is described in terms of relevant theories from geology, economics, and politics, and how they interact to generate real-world behavior.
• CAS GE 575: Topics in Applied Remote Sensing
  Applications of image processing and modeling in remote sensing for environmental problems. Classification, mapping, change detection, and ecological modeling; multitemporal and multispectral analysis of image data. Primary focus on optical remote sensing; discussion of emerging technologies such as Lidar. Student projects.
• CAS GE 578: Marine Geographic Information Science
  Introduction to marine geographic information systems and spatial analysis for conservation, management, and marine landscape ecology. Comparative examples from Gulf of Maine and tropics. Solve problems in coastal zoning and marine park design, whale and coral reef conservation. Also offered as CAS BI 578.
• CAS GE 594: Global Environmental Negotiation and Policy
  Key concepts, actors, concerns, and issues related to the process of negotiating global environmental policies. Overview of the international system and environmental problems; an international negotiation simulation; case studies of global agreements on ozone depletion, climate change, desertification, and biodiversity, among others. Meets with CAS IR 594.
• CAS GE 597: Development and Environment in Latin America
  Provides an empirically based understanding of the social and environmental aspects of economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) for purposes of analyzing the numerous trade and development policies that nations in LAC are currently considering. Also offered as CAS IR 597.
• CAS GE 599: Science, Politics, and Climate Change
  Applies a science and technology studies perspective to climate change science and policy. Examines the relationships between scientific and political systems at global, national, and local levels. Also offered as CAS IR 599.
• CAS HI 100: Freshman History Seminar
  Focusing on provocative themes and dramatic moments, these seminars introduce the art of historical writing while cultivating practical skills. Students learn how to analyze historical literature and debates as well as primary sources such as memoirs and fiction. Freshman only, carries Writing Program credit (CAS WR 100).
• CAS HI 101: The Dawn of Europe: Antiquity to the Renaissance
  Covers the origins and rise of Europe, with emphasis on Greek and Roman antiquity, medieval institutions, the Renaissance city-state, and religious reform. Typical readings may include Thucydides' Peloponnesian War, The Bible, Machiavelli's The Prince, and Luther's Christian Liberty. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS HI 102: The Emergence of Modern Europe: Renaissance to the Present
  Political and religious change; Enlightenment and Revolution; industrialization and the nation state; and modernity, the World Wars, and their consequences. Typical readings may include Rousseau's Social Contract, Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto, and Silone's Bread and Wine. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS HI 150: Freshman Writing and Research Seminar
  These seminars bring students out of the classroom and into the archive and library. Students hone their detective skills by learning how historians investigate the past through primary sources including diaries, novels, government documents, and scientific treatises. Satisfies WR 150 requirement.
• CAS HI 151: The Emerging United States to 1865
  Colonial society and the roots of the American Revolution; federalism, nationalism, Jeffersonian democracy; Jackson and democratic capitalism; expansion and imperialism; slavery and civil war. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS HI 152: The United States since 1865
  Reconstruction, industrialism, and recent social movements; labor and populism, imperial expansion, progressive politics, World War I, 1920s prosperity and the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, and the Cold War. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.

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